Crackhouse: Notes from the End of the Line

Sociologist Williams ( The Cocaine Kids ) conveys a certain humanity in a crackhouse amidst the terrible degradation depicted in this ethnographic study. Most chapters grittily portray different members of the Manhattan house who together function as a pathetic substitute for family to keep their lives and habits intact. In graphic language, Williams recreates endless rounds of unprotected sex and drug use in the members' search for the ``double master blaster''--a combined sexual and drug orgasm. But the book does not consist of shocking descriptions alone. Williams looks at the economics of the community to show how people deprived of hope and means turn to drugs for employment and escape. In giving us access to this netherworld, the author convinces us of the veracity of his assertion that ``the people in the crackhouse culture should not be seen as criminals; they are not dismissable people, certainly not disposable.'' (June)